Man in the Saddle (1951)

Great Film overall

Fantastic!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Randolph Scott (Owen Merritt), Joan Leslie (Laurie Bidwell), Ellen Drew (Nan Melotte), Alexander Knox (Will Isham), Richard Rober (Fay Dutcher), John Russell (Hugh Clagg), Alfondo Bedoya (Cultus Charlie), Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Bourke Prine), Clem Bevans (Pay Lankershim), Cameron Mitchell (George Virk), Richard Crane (Duke Virk), Frank Sully (Lee Repp), Don Beddoe (Love Bidwell), George Lloyd (Tom Croker), James Kirkwood (Sheriff Medary), Frank Hagney (Ned Bale), Frank Ellis (townsman), Tennessee Ernie Ford (wrangler).Director: ANDRE DE TOTH. Screenplay: Kenneth Gamet. Based on the novel by Ernest Haycox. Photographed in Technicolor by Charles Lawton, junior. Film editor: Charles Nelson. Art director: George Brooks. Set decorator: Frank Tuttle. Technicolor color consultant: Francis Cugat. Music: George Duning. Songs: Harold Lewis (music) and Ralph Murphy (lyrics). Music director: Morris Stoloff. Assistant to the producer: Herbert Stewart. Assistant director: Willard Reineck. Sound recording: Frank Goodwin. Associate producer: Randolph Scott. Producer: Harry Joe Brown. Executive producers: Harry Joe Brown, Randolph Scott. A Scott-Brown Production, released through Columbia Pictures. Copyright 7 December 1951 by Producers Actors Corporation. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 2 December 1951. U.K. release: 28 June 1952. Australian release: 11 September 1952. 87 minutes.U.K. release title: The OUTCAST. SYNOPSIS: Owen Merritt, a small rancher, has to stand aside and see his ambitious girlfriend, Laurie Bidwell, marry a wealthy neighbor, Will Isham. Laurie's heart, however, is still with Owen. When Isham realizes this, he determines to destroy his rival.COMMENT: This promising theme is none too well handled by a group of first-class technicians who should have known better than fall back on such old-fashioned devices as under-cranking the camera to speed up the action. Although well-motivated, the script also fails to deliver. The story develops into one long gun-fight, with brief interludes of talkative peace. The lovely Ellen Drew is wasted as Scott's also-ran love interest.

Man in the Saddle is directed by Andre De Toth and adapted to screenplay by Kenneth Gamet from the novel written by Ernest Haycox. It stars Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie, John Russell, Ellen Drew, Alexander Knox, Richard Rober and Guinn Williams. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr.More known and rightly lauded for the series of Western films he made with Budd Boetticher, it often gets forgotten that Randolph Scott also had a long working relationship with Andre De Toth. Man in the Saddle was the first of six Western films the two men would make together, and it's a pretty impressive start.Sometimes you see words such as routine and standard attributed to a lot of Westerns from the 1950s, and Man in the Saddle is one such film that's unfairly tarred with that brush. Not that the narrative drive is out of the ordinary, the plot essentially sees Randy as a peaceful farmer forced to get nasty when evil land baron flexes his muscles, but the zest of the action, the stunt work, the colour photography (Lone Pine as always a Mecca for Western fans) and Scott, mark this out as a thoroughly entertaining production.Characterisations carry a bit more psychological smarts than your average "B" Western of the era. There's a four way tug-of-love-war operating that is clearly going to spell misery, pain and death for somebody, a capitalist slant that bites hard with its egotistical bully boy overtones, while the obsessive behaviour of the principal players adds another dark cloud over this part of the West. Then there is the action scenes, of which De Toth once again shows himself to be a darn fine purveyor of such directional skills.And so, we get an ace runaway blazing wagon sequence, a stampede, a quite brilliant gunfight in a darkened saloon, a mano-mano fist fight that literally brings the house down – and then continues down a steep ravine, and the closing shoot-out played out during a dust storm doesn't lack for adrenaline rushes. Scott is once again a bastion of Western coolness, more so when he throws off the bright attire he wears for the first half of film, to then switch to black clothes that signifies he's going all bad ass on those who have caused him grief.Undervalued for sure, both as a Scott picture and as a Western movie in general. Don't believe the routine and standard scare mongers, there's good craft here and it's a whole bunch of Oater fun. 7.5/10

Randolph Scott's westerns improved over the years, on the average they were better in the fifties than in the forties, and they reached their peak with "Hangman's Knot", "A Lawless Street" and those made with Budd Boetticher. "Man in the Saddle" is quite enjoyable with a lot of violent scenes: numerous shootouts and quite a fistfight with John Russel. Scott has a small ranch and is facing the jealousy of Will Isham (Alexander Knox) who is marrying Laurie (Joan Leslie) who used to be Owen Merrit(Scott)'s woman. Isham also wants to own all the property that he can and Merrit is on his way. Nan Melotte (Ellen Drew) also owns a ranch and is in love with Merrit who only has eyes for Laurie. The romantic scenes, which should be important lack luster. Scott could do much better as he showed in "The Tall T". Also some comic scenes with Alfonso Bedoya are not really that funny. But those are minor faults, in this fast paced, colorful western directed by Andre de Toth.

Maybe I was expecting more from this early 1950s Randolph Scott western, but it disappointed me. Alexander Knox is out of place as a rich rancher with an English accent. Richard Rober is badly miscast as a dangerous gunman (he's too pudgy, not sinister looking or sounding at all, & is introduced while wearing a V buttoning shirt with large matching blue buttons, a bit too coordinated for a gunslinger who's not supposed to be especially into his looks). Scott is supposed to be a "man of unbreakable principles," but he's awfully close to his ex-girlfriend at the point she's engaged to someone else, & awfully close to her after she's married to another guy, & Scott can't seem to make up his mind about which woman he wants to be with anyway. I've seen much more unbreakable principles elsewhere! Scott is good in his role, but he's been much better in some of his other films (for example, "The Walking Hills," which was made not long before this film). Clem Bevans is OK as an old guy (what else is new?), but he's almost non-verbal & then disappears shortly after the movie begins. "Man in the Saddle" just doesn't hit the mark. I rate it 6/10.